House approves budget framework for Trump's 'big' bill after intense wrangling sways GOP holdouts

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework Thursday, a political turnaround after Speaker Mike Johnson worked into the night to satisfy GOP holdouts who had refused to advance trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts.

Johnson stood with Senate Majority Leader John Thune early in the morning at the Capitol to shore up President Donald Trump’s "big, beautiful bill,” and they committed to seeking at least $1.5 trillion in cuts to federal programs and services. The speaker had abruptly halted voting Wednesday night.

“I told you not to doubt us,” Johnson, R-La., said afterward.

He acknowledged the week's economic turmoil with the financial markets “a little unstable.” But he said the House vote was a ”big day."

The 216-214 vote pushed the budget plan forward, one more milestone for Johnson, and next step in a lengthy process to unlock the centerpiece to the president’s domestic agenda of tax cuts, mass deportations and a smaller federal government. A failed vote, particularly as the economy was convulsing over Trump’s trade wars, would have been a major setback for the party in power in Washington. Two conservative Republicans voted against it, as did all Democrats.

Trump, at a black-tie fundraising dinner this week, had admonished Republicans to "stop grandstanding” on the budget.

By Thursday morning, Trump had shifted his tone.

“Biggest Tax Cuts in USA History!!! Getting close,” Trump said.

The action still leaves weeks, if not months, ahead. House and Senate Republicans will have to turn their budget framework into bill text for a final product. Johnson can lose only a few detractors from his slim Republican majority at any vote along the way. Democrats, in the minority, lack the numbers to stop the package, but they promised to fight every step.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the GOP budget plan was a “toxic scheme” that proposed the largest cuts to the Medicaid health care program and food assistance in the nation's history, “all in service of enacting massive tax breaks to their millionaire donors, like Elon Musk” — referring to the billionaire businessman who is leading Trump's cost-cutting efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency.

Jeffries said Democrats will push back until they “bury this budget resolution in the ground.”

Late Wednesday, the outcome was in flux. At least a dozen conservative Republicans, if not more, were firmly against the plan. Several of them, including members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, made the unusual move of walking across the Capitol to meet privately with Senate GOP leaders to insist on deeper cuts.

As night fell, Johnson pulled a group of Republicans into a private meeting room as House proceedings came to a standstill. They stayed into the night hashing out alternatives, and were back at it in the morning.

Johnson said he spoke with Trump for about five minutes while the GOP meeting was taking place.

“The president is very anxious for us to get this done,” Johnson said.

But House GOP conservatives, including several of those who met with Trump this week, were concerned that the Senate GOP's blueprint, approved last weekend, did not cut spending to the level they believe necessary to help prevent soaring deficits.

“The Math Does Not Add Up,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, had posted earlier on social media.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the Freedom Caucus chair, led others to meet with the senators.

In the end, Harris, Roy and almost all the holdouts came on board. They said they were assured by Johnson, Thune and Trump that there would be steep cuts ahead. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana voted “no.”

“We got as much as we could,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. ”We realized it was bigger than us."

Before the vote, Thune, R-S.D., tried to assure House conservatives that many GOP senators were aligned with their pursuit of spending reductions.

“We certainly are going to do everything we can,” Thune said.

But the details ahead will matter. Key Republican senators already signaled their disapproval of some $800 billion in House-proposed cuts that could hit Medicaid and other vital programs.

Johnson insisted that the health care and other services that millions of Americans rely on, particularly Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, would be spared. Republicans instead are seeking to impose new restrictions on benefits and cut what they portray as waste, fraud and abuse, following DOGE's efforts.

A final product is expected later this spring or summer, with more voting to come.

Central to the budget framework is the Republican effort to preserve the tax breaks approved in 2017, during Trump's first term, while potentially adding the new ones he promised during his 2024 campaign. That includes no taxes on tipped wages, Social Security income and others, ballooning the price tag to some $7 trillion over the decade.

The package also allows for more than $500 billion in budget increases, including some $175 billion to pay for Trump's deportation operation and as much for the Defense Department to bolster military spending.

The plan would also raise the nation's debt limit to allow more borrowing to pay the bills. Trump had wanted lawmakers to take the politically difficult issue off the table. With debt now at $36 trillion, the Treasury Department has said it will run out of funds by August.

But the House and Senate need to resolve their differences on the debt limit, as well. The House GOP increases the debt limit to $4 trillion, but the Senate lifted it to $5 trillion so Congress would not have to revisit the issue again until after the midterm elections in November 2026.

To clip costs, the Senate is using an unusual accounting method that does not count the costs of preserving the 2017 tax cuts, some $4.5 trillion, as new spending, another factor that is enraging the House conservatives.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves, Leah Askarinam and Matt Brown contributed to this report.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans approved their budget framework that is central to President Donald Trump's agenda, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., departs after he and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., made statements to reporters ahead of a vote in the House to pass a bill on President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities of spending reductions and tax breaks, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., make statements to reporters ahead of vote in the House to pass a bill on President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities of spending reductions and tax breaks, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., make statements to reporters ahead of vote in the House to pass a bill on President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities of spending reductions and tax breaks, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, right, and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, meet outside of the closed-door House Republican Conference as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to fellow Republicans to push for a House-Senate compromise budget resolution to advance President Donald Trump's agenda, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, challenges Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, as President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks are prepared for a floor vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, joined at right by Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member, defends the Republican plan to advance President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks as the House Rules Committee prepares the measure for a floor vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., leaves the chamber after an essential procedural vote passed in the House to advance President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, listens as the Republican plan to advance President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks is prepared in the House Rules Committee for a floor vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. The deficit hawk has blasted the GOP plan drawing the ire of both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters about his push for a House-Senate compromise budget resolution to advance President Donald Trump's agenda, even with opposition from hard-line conservative Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss investigators believe sparkling flares atop Champagne bottles started a fire in a bar at an Alpine ski resort that left 40 people dead and another 119 injured during a New Year’s celebration.

Most injuries, many of them serious, occurred when the blaze swept through the crowded bar in southwestern Switzerland in the early hours of Thursday.

The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue. Overnight, the Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.

Here’s what we know:

The blaze broke out around 1:30 a.m. Thursday during a holiday celebration inside the Le Constellation bar.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female colleague on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.

People tried to escape from a nightclub area in the basement, up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door, causing a crowd surge, one of the women said.

A young man at the scene said people smashed windows to escape, reported BFMTV. He said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames.

Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation, rushed to help first responders after receiving a call from a friend who escaped the inferno. He described a scene of people trapped on the ground, severely injured and burned.

“I have seen horror and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Campolo told French broadcaster TF1.

Swiss officials described the blaze as a likely flashover, meaning that it triggered the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently.

The injured suffered from serious burns and smoke inhalation. Some were flown to specialist hospitals across the country and elsewhere in Europe.

Authorities urged people to show caution in the coming days to avoid any incidents that could require the already overwhelmed medical resources.

Out of the 119 injured, 113 have now been identified, officials said Friday.

The severity of the burns has made it very difficult to identify bodies, bringing fresh agony for families who now must hand over DNA samples to authorities. In some cases, wallets and any ID documents inside turned to ash in the flames.

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising 17-year-old Italian golfer who competed internationally, is officially listed as one of Italy’s missing nationals. His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the DNA checks, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.

Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said that 13 Italian citizens were injured and six remained missing by midday Friday. Galeppini’s name was on the missing persons list.

France's foreign ministry said eight French people are missing and another nine are among the injured. Top-flight French soccer team FC Metz said one of its trainee players, 19-year-old Tahirys Dos Santos, was badly burned and has been transferred by plane to Germany for treatment.

On Instagram, an account filled up with photos of people who remained unaccounted for, with their friends and relatives begging for tips about the whereabouts of the missing.

The injured include 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said Friday. The nationalities of 14 people remain unclear.

The nearby regional hospital in Sion took in a flood of victims from the fire. Its general director, Eric Bonvin, recounted how staff scrambled to determine the extent of people’s injuries.

The hospital — in the heart of the Alps and no stranger to winter sports accidents — was well staffed for the end of the year, when crowds flock to the mountains. On top of that, many colleagues who had not been scheduled to work rushed in to lend a hand.

Still the hospital, which is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the resort by air, quickly hit full capacity, authorities said, taking in about 80 seriously injured people in just three hours.

As of Friday, the hospital still had about 30 seriously injured patients in its care.

With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit.

The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan Cortina Olympics in February.

The town’s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club, down the street from the bar, stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.

Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester reported from Sion, Switzerland. Geir Moulson in Berlin, Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

A police officer helps a boy to light a candle near the sealed off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)